Sports Broadcaster Jim Nantz Explains the Origin of His ‘Hello, Friends’ Catchphrase
If you’ve watched the Masters, tuned into a Super Bowl or followed March Madness on CBS over the past two-plus decades, you’ve heard it.
The camera cuts to Jim Nantz, he settles into the moment, and out come two words that feel as familiar as any signature call in sports broadcasting: “Hello, friends.”
Most viewers assumed it was a polished catchphrase. Nantz himself has acknowledged that perception. But the real story behind those two words is far more personal than most fans ever realized — and Nantz recently shared it in detail.
A Promise to His Father at the 2002 PGA Championship
In an interview on the Vanity Index Podcast, released Feb. 25, Nantz opened up about the phrase’s true origin. The podcast is hosted by Chad Mumm, creator of Netflix’s Full Swing, and Wells Adams, a former contestant on The Bachelorette.
“Some people, I think, think it’s some sort of attempt, lame attempt to try to have a signature phrase or line – had nothing to do with that,” Nantz said on the podcast. “It all had to do with trying to communicate with my father.”
The phrase made its debut at the 2002 PGA Championship in Hazeltine, Minnesota.
At the time, Nantz’s father, also named Jim Nantz, was battling Alzheimer’s disease. He had been diagnosed in 1995, and by 2002, the disease had been taking its toll for seven years.
Before going on the air for the golf tournament, Nantz made his father a promise.
“When I come on the air, I’m gonna look into that camera, and I’m gonna say, ‘Hello, friends,’ and that’s for you, Dad, ‘cause you have nothing but friends,” he said on the podcast.
“That’s going to be my little trigger line that lets you know at that very moment I’m thinking of you,” he added.
One of the biggest voices in American sports broadcasting, sitting in the booth at a major championship, and his first words weren’t aimed at the millions watching at home. They were aimed at one man.
How a One-Time Message Became a 25-Year Tradition
Nantz never intended to say it again. He described it as a “one-and-done” opening line — a single, private message sent through a television camera to his ailing father.
But something happened after that first broadcast at Hazeltine. One of his CBS colleagues encouraged him to continue using the phrase. So Nantz used it the following day. And it stuck.
What began as a quiet, personal gesture became woven into CBS Sports broadcasts. For a play-by-play announcer known for calling the Masters, the Super Bowl and the Final Four, “Hello, friends” became inseparable from the experience of watching those events.
Every time fans settled into the couch for Augusta National’s azaleas on a Sunday afternoon, or gathered around the TV for the national championship game, that same greeting was there waiting.
It felt like tradition and ritual — just not the kind most people assumed.
Still Honoring His Dad Before Every Broadcast
Jim Nantz Jr., sometimes referred to as Jim Nantz II, died in 2008 after a 13-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease, according to his obituary. He was 79.
The greeting didn’t die with him. Now, nearly 25 years after that first broadcast at the PGA Championship, Nantz still says it before every broadcast as a way of honoring his late father.
“I say, ‘Hello, friends,’ and I think of my dad watching down on me, and it relaxes me, and I fall into the flow of the show,” he added. “So that’s the story.”
Those words are a ritual that steadies him, a moment of connection with his father before the lights get bright and the broadcast begins.
For viewers who have heard “Hello, friends” hundreds of times without knowing any of this, the phrase now carries an entirely different weight.
Nantz’s commitment to honoring his father extended beyond broadcasting. In 2011, he founded the Nantz National Alzheimer Center (NNAC) in partnership with Houston Methodist.
The center was established to honor his father and as a tribute to his mother, Doris, and sister, Nancy, for their tireless dedication to caregiving.
His mother passed away peacefully in 2022, according to her obituary. She was 91.
Production of this article included the use of AI. It was reviewed and edited by a team of content specialists.
